1. Technical Field
The present invention is directed to an improved data processing system. More specifically, the present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for providing a diagnostic problem determination methodology for complex systems.
2. Description of Related Art
Current methods used by diagnostic devices for reporting errors typically report an indeterminate error code when testing a parent device by simply stating that a child device could not be restored to its original state. A parent device is a device that has child devices coupled to it or incorporated into it. For example, a parent device may be a computer system and child devices of this parent device may be a network interface card, a video card, a scanner, a printer, a computer subsystem, or the like.
The indeterminate error code returned by the diagnostic device does not pinpoint the problem accurately, forcing the technician to spend additional time analyzing the problem and possibly making the wrong Field Replaceable Unit (FRU) replacement. A FRU is a unit that may be replaced by a technician in the field. Such FRUs may be, for example, child devices of the parent device (the computer system under test).
Thus, the known systems for diagnosing faults have the drawbacks that a technician is required to spend large amounts of time to analyze the problem encountered by a system in view of the indeterminate error and that the technician may replace FRUs that either are the incorrect FRUs to replace or may result in an entire FRU being replaced when, in actuality, only a component of the FRU need be replaced to solve the problem. Such drawbacks result in greater down time for the system and more expensive repairs.
Because current diagnostic devices are unable to accurately pinpoint the problem being experienced by the system under test, an improved methodology is needed for identifying the source of a system problem with particularity.
The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for performing a diagnostic problem determination methodology for complex systems. The present invention provides an apparatus and method whereby a diagnostic application for a system may automatically invoke additional diagnostics for child devices and/or siblings of the child devices based on status of the child devices after testing the parent device. This allows for complete testing of a subsystem in a single, automatic, diagnostic execution resulting in a more complete, accurate analysis of subsystems with complex configurations such as seen with redundant arrays of independent disk drive (RAID) systems.